The Evolution of a Tinkermonkey

Tinkermonkey wasn't very happy with her new outfit. She made funny faces when her mama and Lula put it on her.


So her mama decided to let Tinkermonkey go at her own pace. First, it was a crown and shoes.


Then it was a very foofy crown and a magic wand!


Tinkermonkey got so used to her crown that she wore it (along with her backpack) to her mama's chiropractor appointment. She also brought her Easter egg.


Eventually, Tinkermonkey donned her dress, her shoes, AND her wand! She was almost a real Tink. A very tired Tink. Because Tinkering is very tiring work.


So she decided to spend some time lounging in her Tinkerchair.


After a couple more days, Tinkermonkey would request her Tinkerdress on her own and do all kinds of fun things in it. Like, having snack...


Playing on the computer...


And even playing in the towel basket!


The Tinkermama still doesn't have any photos of Tinkermonkey in her full Tinkeruniform but believes the Tinkermonkey will be fully transformed by Halloween! Much to the delight of Mama Lainey, official costumer of the Colley clan of fairies. :)

For now, Miss Autumn says, "I'm done, mama."

Last set of vegas pics!

One hard thing about vacation is getting of our schedules. I'm a little bit of a creature of habit so a week of weird bedtimes, touring, and waking up late one day and really early another...whew. You can see here that Mike and I are looking a little worn, haha!


If you ask Autumn to "smile for the camera," this is sometimes what you get.


I love this picture of Tyler; I wish it wasn't so blurry when made larger.


"Autumn! Smile! Say, 'cheese!'"


I think the Venetian might have been our favorite casino. It was at least the one we photographed the most. Autumn seemed to like it, too.


ok. This might be the awesomest/most horrible pic of the trip. I swear and Mike swears that this guy, who was dancing Stevie Wonder-style, was NOT looking down my dress.......but it sure looks like he was, doesn't it?


On to something less hilarious and embarrassing...this was the best coffee I have ever had in. my. life. MY LIFE. Seriously, I will sometimes sit and think about this drink and wish I knew of some place in Memphis where I could find it. It's called a marocchino and I got it at an Illy Cafe. Incidentally, this is also possibly one of the best photos I have ever taken.


That night, we got back to the hotel to a sleeping monkeypants...how cute is that little brown-headed burrito?


And this one is from our last day. Like Autumn's suitcase? Papa D got that for her. It's so cute! Leaving Vegas was as adventurous as getting there! We ended up sitting on the plane for an hour because it needed the longer runway. When we finally did take off...I gotta admit I have never been so scared on a plane as I was the first 20 minutes of that flight! I've heard that sometimes with heat and a heavy plane, getting over those mountains can be a little ugly. Yeahhh. Anyway, hello kitty suitcase!

Vacation, continued

I think I only have one more day of vacation pics to post after this. And then some fun stuff!

Mike and I are the only ones who went to the Hoover Dam. it was a nice break from the buildings although it was driving through brown desert from one hunk of concrete to another, haha. Anyway, this is one of the signs at the overlook. The top isn't very clear but it says: "caution rail may be hot" which really was an understatement considering it gets to like 135 degrees up there. :P


The bridge they are building:


It is over the Colorado River. It was weird because in the power plant we could totally feel the water rushing. I can get a little claustrophobic sometimes so it was disconcerting for me.


I tend to try to only post good pictures of people, including Mike, Autumn, and myself. But I made an exception for this since we look exceptionally fuzzy and I thought my hair was extra funny. We got ready in the dark at like 7am so we wouldn't wake up Miss Autumn when we left.


Later that night, we all looked much better. Here's Autumn with Aunt Lauren (Laawan!) who was nice enough to stay with Autumn while we went to Hoover Dam. I don't know why but the expression on the face of the lady to the right tickles me.


And with Aunt Lindsay (Zinzze! in Autumn-speak).


And here's Mike looking smothered. Haha. Autumn's hair was very perky that night. She looked like a muppet.


This is at the Mandalay Bay Aquarium. Autumn and Tyler had some fun there and it was all Papa D's idea. It was funny because Mama Lainey and I were wanting to go look at the shops. Papa D kept saying, "they are this way," but it was increasingly obvious that there were, in fact, no shops in that direction. When we stopped and conferred, Papa D said he thought we were asking about the sharks. Hahahaha.


Here's one of them swimming over us in one of the glass tunnels.


And this is Autumn going, "ohhh, whoa!"


That was our night to babysit so we took the kids back to the hotel. They played for a bit before we put them to bed. Tyler tried to grin his way out of bedtime. :) You can see Autumn fading out.


The next morning, Autumn was well rested and ready for the day...


I love that picture. Technology baby checking her emails.

vegas, cont.

Got a few more Vegas pics for everyone! I also have some fun stuff coming up as soon as I get a little time. :D For now, though, vacation!

We went to FAO Schwartz at the Forum Shops by Caesar's Palace. I forgot to switch my camera from outdoor mode so the color is off but Autumn had some fun on this huge clifford plushie.


I think Mike and I were at a coffee shop at Caesar's Palace when I took this. We found a quiet, out of the way place to sit while some of the others were at shows or in the casino. It was a nice break from the bustle. Anyway, this is Las Vegas Blvd.


After that, we all walked to some of the other nearby casinos and I got another nice street shot.


At this point, I became the biggest winner of the trip until Mike totally beat me on the last night. A whopping $24.67!


The next day we did some more touring. We rode the roller coaster at the New York New York. I have a printed photo of that I will try to scan because it's kind of funny.


That night we got all dressed up to go to Penn and Teller and fancied Autumn up, too. Someone made my night by asking me where I bought her dress. :D Also, Autumn and Tyler did a lot of hugging and kissing.


And just general being cuteness.


Mama Lainey and Aunt Lindsay taught Autumn how to bow Japanese-style. :) Now I just need to teach her to say, "onegai shimasu!"


Penn and Teller was really, really great. I'm not a big magic show person but I had a blast. I really recommend the show to anyone who goes to Vegas and hasn't seen them. Both of them stand in the lobby and greet fans after the show. I was able to sneak up front, smile really pretty, and get in a picture with Penn. Who is 6'7." We were so tickled by the whole thing that Mike and I pretty much spent the rest of the night grinning.


And on that fun and slightly silly note, I will call it a night. :D But, more vacation pics, a video, and some milestones are coming up in the next week or so!!

boy, I'm behind

I just realized it's been longer than I thought...so here's a few extra pics. We're still going through some vegas stuff.

Getting into Vegas had been interesting. The night we left, a tornado or two touched down near our neighborhood. We barely made it to the gate in time because we had to wait until the storm passed over us to go to the airport. We were in the bathroom listening to our weather radio! It was really close. We boarded almost as soon as we got to the gate. Miss Autumn had a little time to people watch, though.


On the way, we let Autumn watch her favorite movie: Tinkerbell. She HATED the headphones. Part of it had to do with the size, I think. They were too big so we used Madeleine to prop them up. Even now, whenever she sees a headset or headphones Autumn covers her ears and says, "no ear! no ear!"


Friday, Mike, Autumn, and I chilled out for the afternoon. We stayed at a Marriott near the strip that was very nice. So when I got in the pool, I was surprised that it didn't...feel...quite right. Some of the water got on my lip and I thought, "huhhhh, that doesn't taste quite right." But it looked so clean! Well, turns out it was a salt water pool. Ha! What a relief...


This is apparently the Colley Subfamily A version of Cirque du Soliel's O. BE IMPRESSED.


Tyler and Autumn are both learning to jump. It's pretty cute. Autumn gets a little air these days but they both kind of bend their knees and shimmy from the edge of the pool.


Mike and me outside the Ka theater after the show Friday night. Those shoes? Baad idea. I meant to bring flip flops and FORGOT THEM. It was terrible. Anyway, Ka was pretty cool. The good/bad news is that it wasn't sooo good that I wanted to move to Vegas and join the show. :P For anyone who doesn't know, it's the martial arts Cirque du Soleil that I've wanted to see for at least 3 years. Get me to tell you about the Tarzan character sometime. THAT was a man secure in his masculinity. For real.


This is Saturday morning, I believe. Another morning of Her Majesty the Queen being strolled by her entourage.


This is in the Venetian. There were these tubes that dropped a blue light so it looked like rain. I told Mike if we're ever fabulously wealthy, I was going throw a party that looks like this.


More Venetian...


I love this picture. Brad and Autumn were dancing through the casino.


That night we ate at Trevi by the fountain. The food was delicious although we couldn't hear each other over the fountain and the waiter kept leaning on my head. I told Mike after the third time that if he did it again, I was gonna whap the guy. :P It didn't happen again. I like to think the waiter sensed the danger. Hahahaha.


Ok, this is getting a bit long so I think I'll call my tale there. I have a couple days more of photos. I'll try to get them out sooner than I did this week!

What happens in Vegas...

Doesn't always stay in Vegas. I got this rare footage of copycats in the wild. Enjoy!

We're back!

Hi, all! We're back from our Vegas vacation! It was full of thrills like dodging tornadoes on the way out of town and hotel fire alarms going off during showers, as well as huge bowls of french fries...


Casinos!


Salt water pools!


Sharks!


And more!